•258 CHOUGH OR RED-LEGGED CROW. 
abundant is in the Isle of Man, an island of con- 
siderable extent, and having precipitous coasts for 
at least two-thirds of its circumference. Round 
these shores it is so common that we once pro- 
cured nearly thirty specimens in a forenoon. The 
habits of the bird, as well as the flight, manner of 
alighting among the rocks and fissures, very 
closely resembles those of the Jackdaw ; so 
much so, that when we first enjoyed the satisfac- 
tion of seeing this bird on a part of the mainland 
where they were not so frequent, we mistook 
their flight for that of the last named bird, and 
missed some opportunities of procuring what we 
then considered a very rare bird ; a glimpse of 
their red legs first undeceived us. During the 
breeding season, when we have chiefly seen these 
birds, we found them almost constantly on the 
coast near the eaves and fissures where the nests 
were placed; and they were very seldom seen 
more than a quarter of a mile inland, but they 
made excursions so far, alighting among the rocky 
parts of the upland sheep pasture, and occasion- 
ally feeding and walking on the dry pasture itself, 
where they appeared to procure insects, their 
stomachs being chieflj' at this time filled with 
coleoptera. It is also said to feed on grains aud 
berries ; and we are not aware of any particular 
food afforded by the rocky British coasts which 
in that country so peculiarly attracts them to 
such localities, while on the Continent, the Alpine 
ranges on the borders of the snow-line are their 
usual haunts. Colonel Montague, who kept one as 
